The magical bathtub
by whitemiracle
Summary: When you're babysitting the Tachibana kids, a stranger guy in swimming trunks appearing in the bathtub in front of you isn't what you prepare for. But a bathtub is a bathtub and Haruka Nanase doesn't give a damn if you're naked or not in the water. One-shot. Free! belongs to Hiroko Utsumi.


Sort of a HaruxReader oneshot. 'Sort of' has an emphasis in this context.

* * *

I was at the Tachibana family's house, babysitting the two little brats. I was currently lying in the bathtub, washing my hair after I had tucked the kids in their beds. I wouldn't have had a bath there if those little devils hadn't started a fight with each other which resulted in a bottle of soup landing on the top of my head.

I sat up in the bathtub as I washed the shampoo off my hair. I opened my eyes and became petrified at the same time.

There was a guy, standing next to the tub, unbuttoning his shirt. I pulled up my knees, trying to cover myself instinctively, but continued staring at the boy with my mouth open. He took off his shirt and trousers. I looked around for something that I could defend myself with if he wanted to attack me, but I didn't find anything. The boy wore a pair of swimming trunks. He took off his socks too and without saying anything, he got into the bathtub and sat in front of me in almost the same pose I was in.

I was shocked. I didn't know what I should have done. I was sitting there, water dripping from my hair, hugging my knees to cover everything that should have been covered with a stranger guy sitting in front of me, looking at me with an impassionate look on his face.

"Excuse me", I said on a high-pitched tone of voice "but who are you and what are you doing… in here?"

"I could ask you the same."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Well, sorry, but you couldn't" I said annoyed. "I was obviously washing my hair and I have a permission to be here. Compared to me, you suddenly and without any kind of warning, intruded and are currently disturbing my personal space."

"My friend lives here", he said simply.

"You're Makoto's friend?" I frowned.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm the babysitter. Makoto didn't tell me someone's coming over tonight."

"He didn't know. I had something to do around here and I dropped by."

"Do you have a key or something?"

"The door was open."

"Shit."

We stayed quiet for a few minutes. It was rather inconvenient, so I told the guy: "Would you please get out so I could put on some clothes? You may continue sitting here if you please after that."

"No."

It was absurd. It was so absurd that it took away all of my energy to retort. So instead, I started a conversation.

"What's your name?"

"Haruka Nanase."

"Oh", my eyes became round as I recognized the name. "You're that swimmer. They say you're a genius. Makoto told me one or two things about you. He really respects you."

"I'm not a genius", he said.

He reached out for the shower head and opened the tap. He poured some water on his silky, straight black hair and closed his dark blue eyes. He seemed to be very pleased with the water drops falling on his skin. His muscles were tense as if he wanted to swim right there and then. I felt a bit hot as I looked at his triceps.

He stopped the water and looked at me again.

"You won't ask my name?" I asked.

"No", he replied.

"Then would you at least tell me why you thought sitting in the Tachibana family's bathtub would be a good idea?"

"I like water", he said.

"Is that all? You like water?"

"Yeah."

Another few minutes of silence came. This time, it wasn't broken by me, but by him: "Do you like water?"

"I guess so", I shrugged. "I used to swim too."

"You did?" His eyes shone at me and he suddenly seemed to be more interested in the personality of the naked girl whose toes touched his.

"Yeah, I swam for four years, but I quit."

"Why did you quit?" he asked frowning. His expression suggested _how dared you _more than _why did you_.

"Because I witnessed a swimming accident. But I don't want to talk about that. Especially not with a stranger."

"I'm not a stranger."

I smiled. "Yeah, okay. You're Haruka, you like water, you swim and Makoto is your friend. You're right. But I'm starting to be cold now, so would you please get out so I can at least put on a towel?"

"I'll close my eyes", he said. "But I don't want to get out of the tub."

I released a deep sigh.

"All right, but don't peek!"

He nodded and closed his eyes. I watched him as I stood up and backed to the towel holder. I turned around to cover myself as quickly as I could, and then turned back to him. I might have been imagining it, but I saw his lashes batting.

"You can open your eyes now", I said.

He looked at me with his impassionate ocean blue eyes and said: "I'm in love with you."

I raised my eyebrows.

"W-why would you be in love… with me?" I muttered.

"Because there's water on your skin."

"I guess you can say that about a lot of people", I replied. "And you know, about 65% of the human body is water. Based on how much you love water, you could be in love with anyone in the world."

I blushed a bit as I said that. I was holding the towel with my hand tightly. Haru stood up in the tub and stepped out of it along with one-third of the water that was in the bathtub. Without any hesitation, he stepped to me, leant forward and pushed his lips against mines. My eyes were widely open and Haru looked into them. His soft and warm lips didn't move. A few seconds later he pulled off. I took a step back and pushed the palm of my hand against my mouth. My whole face was hot as if I had fever.

"You don't taste like water", he said a bit disappointed. "You taste like strawberry."

I wanted to tell him I ate some strawberries after dinner, but I couldn't say anything. Haru turned around and sat back into the tub. He opened the tap and enjoyed the pouring water. He lay down and sighed with pleasure.

Before I turned around to leave, still unable to speak, Haru said: "We should swim together once."

"Y-yeah", I stuttered. "We should."

He didn't answer. He was too busy enjoying the touch of the water as I turned around and went to the living room, feeling a bit dizzy.

* * *

I have no idea why I posted this. I'm deeply sorry.


End file.
